"mommy you be wendy and i be michael"

Since Halloween, this has been a favorite saying/game of Jimmy's. When I put him to bed at night he wants to pretend to be these characters. Sometimes this involves me singing "Your Mother and Mine" and rocking him and sometimes it just involves us doing our normal routine and changing our names. Wendy and Michael Darling are the most popular, but here are a few others I often hear:

-"You be the whale and I be Pinocchio." (oddly his favorite part of that movie)

-"You be the tiger and I be Baloo."

-"You be Mr. Fredrickson (or something close to that) and I will be Russell."

The above may make you think my son's life revolves around Disney movies, but just to prove that is not the case, here are a few more:

-"You be Aunt Emmy and I be Tinny." (...or Finny--I think he is starting to say it right, sadly)

-"You be Angela and I be Baby Cia."

-"You be Suzanne and I be Baby Margie."

-"I be Baby Kateri and you be... her momma." (sorry he couldn't remember your name Allie)

and my personal favorite:

-"You be Mary and I be Baby Jesus."-- proof that we teach him about some important things.

post-moving fun

I made this as a fort for Jimmy inside our house one of the days we were moving just to keep him occupied. Eventually, we moved it outside and expanded upon it. It had three exits but somehow Jimmy and Finn always seemed to get caught in the middle while going opposite directions. They would just sit in there screaming until someone came to free them. Finn eventually just gave up on going in at all-- he is wise beyond his years, I guess. But it was actually pretty fun and was well used until it got really rainy in Phoenix and we had to part ways. Jimmy wanted no part of that so I had to tell him we could build another one someday. I am kinda hoping he doesn't remember. This should be motivation to break down all the cardboard boxes still sitting on my porch and throw them away before he does remember.

putting it all way

It is always sad to pack up Christmas decorations. The house always feels a little bland and empty. Jimmy did not want most of them to go back in the box. He had come to think of some of them as his own toys. One day, I found all these on the floor next to the table they normally sat on.

I was quite impressed by the order they were in. I probably shouldn't let the kid think it is okay to play with breakable things, but any kid who is obviously this careful with them gets special privileges. And I am kind of a push over sometimes.

happy new decade

I realize I am posting this a little late, but I am still playing catch up (at least it is still January). We ended up having a really nice New Year's Eve this year. We didn't have any plans so we figured we should utilize the fact that we can now have parties at our own house (even if it is still slowly getting in order). So at the last minute we started calling all our friends and fortunately at least the Kerstings and the Werners also had not made plans. Jimmy had fun with his new friends Maddy and Pierce and of course he is always excited to see Baby Cia. We ate tamales and black eyed peas and shortbread cookies. Then put the kiddos to bed and played Trivial Pursuit. A pretty chill New Years, but I was happy we had friends to celebrate with.... oh, and we had a huge bottle of Champagne so that helped too.

Happy 2010!

boxing day '09

Boxing Day is a traditional British holiday named not after the sport, but instead after actual boxes. On the day after Christmas, people would give their servants small boxes filled with gifts and money. My family is Welsh and English and Irish so we feel we are allowed to celebrate it. Pretty much we just eat our Christmas dinner the day after Christmas because we are too busy on Christmas day to bother with cooking much more than breakfast. Boxing Day has become a day for all of us to relax a little more and just hang out while we make food. We all get party poppers and wear our paper crowns so we can kind of feel British. Then the boys all go outside for an epic game of a giant board game my dad made called Feudal. The girls usually stay inside, cozy on the couch to watch Meet Me in St. Louis (We also love to watch Mixed Nuts as a family, but Danny usually insists to be included). This year was not much different than most--Always a good time.

christmas '09

Dad, Danny, and Erin spent Christmas morning at our house this year. I really loved getting to have Christmas at my house especially on the first Christmas that Jimmy really gets it. It was such a nice morning. Jimmy was really excited about his Sesame Street toys and his pots and pans. Santa also graced him with a Kermit puppet, a Woody Doll, some Smurfs, and a few other goodies. Nana and Nano gave him a Thomas train set and his eyes lit up when he opened it. He sported his new soccer Jersey from Angie and Nat all day and kept Grover and Big Bird with him all day. It was a surprisingly low stress day for me and it will definitely be up there on the charts for good Christmases.

I love the Clutter of Christmas.

We had a delicious egg strata that Erin made, pumpkin bread, OJ, coffee, and Bacon!

What could be better?

Later that morning we headed over to Emily's to see the cousins and we also got to see the McMahon's and the Smecks because it wouldn't be a Taber Christmas without them.

Jimmy loved his play food from the Burch's... I really think the kid is going to be a Chef.

A nice Christmas Nap... I wish I had squeezed one of those in.

So it may not snow in Phoenix, but at least we get to do this on Christmas night:

And yet, I definitely feel like I didn't take enough picture this Christmas. I did leave my camera at my dad's and therefore got no pictures of us dressed for Mass, but that is my only good excuse. Jimmy will probably never look back and think that I let him down by not taking enough pictures of his 3rd Christmas, but still I feel like I am slacking. Most people will probably think I am crazy since I posted a lot of pictures here, but I still personally feel I need to do better, to to mention just take better pictures in general. I want a better camera, but alas.... I want a lot of things. I don't mean to complain, I got lots of wonderful gifts this Christmas, primarily a house. I am more than happy with what I have--primarily the wonderful people I have to take pictures of.

our tree

Jimmy loved our Christmas tree so much this year I was afraid he would cry when we took it down, but seeing as it is still in our backyard we have avoided that as of yet. We are planning on throwing it on the fire for Groundhog's Day so at least it will be a fun goodbye to the tree. I love Christmas trees so much, but it is a strange idea when you think about it. Jim Gaffigan was probably right when he said that it was probably something a drunk guy came up with (If you don't know what I am talking about watch THIS). But we ended up with a pretty good one this year. We probably paid to much for it, but it was for a charity so we felt to guilty to bargain. The branches were pretty much touching the floor so we had to put it up on a box so we could actually get some presents under there. It seemed to work and we got an extra foot or so that we didn't have to pay for which was nice. It was so fun having our first tree in our own house. Jimmy is old enough now to unpack all he ornaments and help hang them so it was a fun night. He wanted to help do everything from get the stand on to sweeping to hanging lights. Growing up, getting our tree was always one of my favorite nights of the year and it is so fun to be able to carry on that tradition with my own child.

Jimmy's new best friend, the Nutcracker.

So we hadn't actually hung the stockings or the picture on the wall, and of course, it is just a gas fireplace (for now), but I still love the picture because it helps to capture the mood of the night. I love having this in my house. I always wanted one at Christmas growing up. What is it about fireplaces? I love that such a simple thing can bring me so much happiness.

santa house

For the last two years we never seemed to make it sit on Santa's lap. It was probably mostly because I slacked off, but then again, he probably would have cried anyway. Now that Jimmy is finally getting the concept of Santa, it was time for him to meet the Man with the Bag. There is a really cool house with lots of lights down the street from my sister's house that you can walk around and Santa is there most nights (not exactly the best Santa... I mean the beard is pretty fake). We were allowed to take our own pictures which was nice (and much cheaper than the mall) and Jimmy eventually warmed up to the guy. I had to sit with him because he was pretty unsure at first, but he did finally tell Santa he wanted Sesame Street toys for Christmas and was very excited about the candy cane he got at the end. The candy cane sort of sealed the deal on him liking Santa Clause and he talked about him from then until Christmas (and he still does sometimes).

I was only cold enough to wear these on a few nights, but Jimmy loved them and asked for them more often then they were needed.

target store

When Jimmy was littler we would say "Do you want to go to the Target Store" because it was easier for him to understand then just saying Target. Well, anyway it stuck and he still calls it the Target Store. It was one of his favorite places (admittedly one of mine as well) and he gets so excited when we tell him we are going. The primary reason recently became the Dinosaur pictures below named Spike. He had his own special display box and Jimmy loved to press his button numerous times to watch him stomp and roar. Thank the Good Lord, that he isn't old enough to realize that he could have asked Santa for it. I was luckily still able to brain wash him into wanting what I had already bought for him. Sadly for Jimmy and not so sadly for Zach and I, Spike has left the Target Store. Good thing there are still so many other good things there and the toy aisle will always be exciting. Also, we now live two minutes from SUPER TARGET!

The usual reaction:

Jimmy's second favorite: "Green Dragon"

You press him down and he eats the guy in front of the castle.

Like this:

He also loved all the dinosaurs that you press and they make noise.

These are the perfect toys to play with in the store, but I hope they never make it home to our house.

moving day!

We were so excited the day we got the key to our new house. It was Thursday Dec. 10, 2009. I will never forget how great it felt.

Our Home Tour by Jimmy:

I love our address sign

Jimmy's "Treasure Box"

This is one of his favorite spots. It is supposed to be the mail box, but the people that lived here before us covered the original box with the new seen above. Jimmy puts all the weird little treasures that we have found around the house in it (ie: little blocks, marbles, chalk, Legos, Playmobiles, beads, nuts and washers, real coins and fake gold ones, etc). I wanted to take the new mailbox down because I think the old one is so cool, but I think Jimmy would be disappointed not to have it as his own. Yeah I am a sucker for him.

Our Living Room

Our Fireplace

Some people say impractical in Phoenix. I say awesome.

(It's gas, but we want to make it wood burning someday)

Our Kitchen

I love the old tile and cabinets--just my style. The color has to go and so do those rooster curtains.... not that they aren't fabulous in their own way. (Maybe I will frame one kind of how Uncle Jesse on Full House had a framed pink bunny from when he lived in Stephanie's old room.)

Our Everything Room

(ie: Mary's Office and Studio/ Craft Room/ Guest Room)

These strange built in shelves will soon be filled with all my junk. Hooray!

1st Bathoom

Again, I love the tile and the funky green bathtub.

2nd Bathroom

The Jack and Jill

(There are more bedrooms and stuff, but the pictures were pretty boring so I didn't include them all.)

Sun Room

Backview of House

Our Backyard

It is not quite as tree filled anymore. Some of them were dying and there was actually so much shade that we wouldn't have been able to get grass. There is also a weird shed in the middle of the yard surrounded by a fence. We hope to get rid of that soon too.

I just had to include this. We have two lamp posts like this in our backyard.

Kind of funny, but Emily's kids are very excited to play Narnia at our house.

Jimmy's backyard Buddies: The birds and Rocky Raccoon.

And they left us a swing set which Jimmy obviously loves. He refers to this one as "The Pirate Ship Swing."

On Sat. Dec. 12 we unloaded the storage unit and started cleaning. We officially moved in on Tuesday Dec. 15 when we spent our first night in the house. It was such an amazing feeling. We hadn't been in our own place since before Jimmy was born. However, if saving money living with family helped allow us to buy this house then it was completely worth it. It was a frustrating process trying to buy a house over this past year and so many things kept not working in our favor. Now that we are in this house, it just feels right. Everything really does happen for a reason. I feel so blessed.

Jimmy did refer to this house as "The house with the swing" for such a long time before we actually owned it. There had been a kids swing in the front yard that he would swing in every time we would come look at the house. They took it down when they sold us the house, but fortunately we had our own so that Jimmy wouldn't be too disappointed. However, now he just calls it "Our Home."

Finally!